Amongst the lines of Arthur Miller’s compelling play, “The Crucible”, Miller introduced the significance of the power of persuasion when it is applied by the authorities and how much control they are capable of. Within the message, the playwright presents to the readers/viewers, there are symbolic connections to the real world, revealing human nature and the diverse forms of disposition.
Within a distinct society lies the rich and the poor as well as the powerful and the powerless. Which type of person immediately has the advantage? Incorporating power can virtually benefit any situation in which a person is attempting to influence another. This is because an abundance of the public blindly believe dominance is more trustworthy, when often
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A portion of the town’s men and women were accused by a group of teenage girls for practicing witchcraft, to cover up their use own of witchcraft. Although the town is built on purity and honesty, there is no reason to trust these girls besides their use of persuasion. These girls had performed an act of witchcraft and contacted the devil with the help of a fair maid, Tituba. When they were caught in the exploit, one of the young girls, Abigail, was fearful. She decided to go upon her pursuit of repairing this situation by persuading the rest of the girls to join her and lie to the remainder of the town about being involved with witchcraft. Abigail was not the only girl who was afraid, provoking the teenagers to generate a list of wives and men they despise of, to accuse for engaging with the devil. Due to the fact that the town is fabricated on morality, Abigail and her friends “word” is anticipated to be credible and honored. As a result, the town’s people are convinced a portion of the citizens have worked with the devil, inducing one of the messages Miller entices throughout “The Crucible”. Persuasion is easily overlooked, while it may be influenced by a crucial
Despite their deeply religious values, the members of the Puritan Society in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible are equally as sinful as the rest of the world. The Puritans, known for turning to God when given any matter at hand, lay blame on the Devil, regardless of their contradictory values. By blaming on him for their wrongdoings, the Devil earns power through the Puritans restoring to involve him whenever any one thing goes wrong. Power is defined by one’s reputation, status, wealth, gender, and age; although the natural deciding factor of one’s power in the Puritan society is land, the Devil himself holds ultimate power. Despite the fact that he does not appear as a human figure, he controls the thoughts and actions of the Puritan society, serving as the ultimate threat.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is filled with fear, betrayal, and mass hysteria. The witch hunts that took place in this book were merely a domino effect of fear brought on by accusation of witchcraft. This ‘theme’ is commonly known as ‘scapegoating’ and, in this book, is commonly used by Abigail. Abigail perfectly embodies the theme of scapegoating by betraying friends and family to slip under the scrutinizing eyes of her town.
1. Miller, Arther. The Crucible. New York: Penguin, 2003. Print.
Scapegoating: Taking Heat From Someone Else's Flame In an interview on Faith and Religion with Bill Moyers from PBS, Margaret Atwood once said, “Under stress, society will always scapegoat a person or a group of people.” This belief is shown in the texts The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the cartoon “It’s okay -- We’re hunting Communist” by Herb Block, and her own poem “Half Hanged Mary”.
“Now look you. All of you. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam’s dead sisters. And that is all.
Within The Crucible, many characters discuss public matters in private spaces and private matters in public ones. These occurrences demonstrate society’s natural tendency to exploit the less relevant, private affairs of citizens in order to influence public opinion and remove blame from oneself. Before the play itself begins, Miller emphasizes the common act of “express[ing] publicly ... guilt and sins under the cover of accusation” (7). Whether the guilt is deserved or not, discussing private matters in the form of public knowledge allows one to place the burden of one’s on actions on others around them. Reverend Parris first utilizes this form of accusation as he states that he “discovered” many girls “dancing in the forest” at night (38), using his sight of them as evidence of hooliganry.
Arthur Miller’s portrayal of a town in the midst of a downfall “The Crucible”, tells the story of how mob mentality and hysteria can significantly influence not only individuals but the whole town. This mob mentality leads to unthoughtful acts and false accusations. Two characters who demonstrate how mob mentality can lead to the demise of Salem are Abigail and Mary Warren. As Abigail begins to be accused she is pressured to deter from the truth. While Mary Warren gets pressured by Proctor to reveal the truth about Abigail, but the overwhelming pressure from the mob makes her turn from the truth.
We all know peer pressure can make you do things, But Arthur Miller’s The Crucible shows us the extremes of social pressure and how it can make us do things we would never have thought of doing. One of the major themes in The Crucible is that popular belief causes you to act and operate differently than you would normally. Some examples of this is Mary’s behavior, the girls fainting, and Proctors struggle to not confess. One of the main examples of someone giving in to social pressure is when Mary Warren decides to convict Proctor and say he is working with the devil.
Moreover, manipulation is a great art of the book The Crucible. Abigail used the idea of a witch, which is extremely socially unacceptable and a great fear of Salem, to sink fright into their hearts and minds, causing many to go on edge of almost
When push comes to shove, everyone makes a tough decision, but in the end the decision was either out of fear to protect themselves, or a strategy to gain a designated amount of authority. In today 's society, many of the decisions people make lead to riots in the streets and people getting hurt. Similarly, the Ferguson riot in Missouri years ago, where many civilians were injured because of decisions made by everyone involved. Whether it turned violent because they wanted to prove something or because they feared the police when they showed up. In the story, The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, the characters also illustrate the fact that it is human nature to defend oneself, to strive to survive despite the harm such actions can cause to
Power and influence in society have a huge impact on the way things happen and affects perception. A prime example is the power that presidents and prime ministers have. Given this power they can effectively influence and persuade others. Power and influence is often associated with gender, conflict and roles and relationships. The importance of the power and influence can be thoroughly examined using texts that demonstrate ideas presented as truths.
We never touched, Abby” (Miller Act 1). The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an incredibly complex play depicting the fictional events of the Salem Witch Trials. If one is to begin to dissect the contents of said play, you must look at it from a psychological point of view. Particularly, a view of Freudian psychology might provide insight as to why some characters made certain decisions and carried out the actions they did. Using a Freudian psychological lens to examine The Crucible, readers can take a closer look at the actions of John Proctor and Abigail Williams and form hypotheses as to their deeper motives.
Good afternoon teachers and fellow peers, In order to achieve their own personal and communal ambitions, figures in society manipulate and persuade people through events and situations to conform to their own political agenda. In the 1955 prescribed text, “The Crucible,” playwright Arthur Miller establishes the exploitative behaviour of characters through dramatised staging features. Similarly in the 1964 related text, “The Times They are A-Changin’,” Bob Dylan insights individual ambitions through musical and poetic devices. The shared ideas of the modernist era such as the significance of religion and political hegemony are investigated by both composers in their perspective texts.
According to founding father Thomas Paine, “Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what God and angels know of us” (“Reputation”). Whether individuals readily admit it or not, everyone cares about what others think or say about them to some extent. Though people are constantly told to not take to heart what others believe about them, they still do. In Arthur Miller’s drama, The Crucible, Salem’s society is collapsing and innocent characters are taking action because their reputation is at stake due to the false accusations of involving themselves in witchcraft. These characters live in such fear that if their pride is tarnished they will never recover from it.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a play which contains a multitude of complex characters . In the play, the characters’ motivations and inner processes are explored. Because of the historical setting, the characters live in a society of judgement and extreme religious devotion. This is a factor that places any of the characters’ choices and morals in a public balance to be judged by others. Abigail Williams is the main character of the play and acts with an utter selfishness and obsession.